We are not far from the time when a fully functional laptop computer will be a hair smaller and a gram lighter than the blog you’re holding in your hands. But we are still lifetimes away from the day when we no longer need a well-written and organized sheaf of printed pages to reveal how to get started and help us understand how to make the best use of high technology.
This blog requires no power source other than the human mind. It will operate in any temperature and weather condition. And, I hope, it will help you fix things when they are broken and improve things when they are lagging.
I was present at the creation of the PC and I assisted at the birth of the first portable computer, which was about the size of a microwave and came with a long electrical extension cord. Since then I have worked my way through at least six generations and more than a dozen models of steadily lighter, smaller, faster, and better.
First of all, this blog sees the world through the eyes of a laptop owner. Laptops can do everything that a desktop PC can do, and in much the same way, but are built very differently.
The important difference is the construction. This blog explores all sorts of ways to replace or upgrade components that slide into, connect to, or attach onto a modern laptop. You open hatches and compartments, too. But you will not open the sealed box that encases the motherboard and holds in place the LCD screen; that’s not a job for Beginner. . .or even for most experts. It’s too complex, too tight a working space, and usually not an economically sensible thing to do.
My goal is to give you news you can use, information that will help you fix problems, replace parts, and add external upgrades and workarounds. Laptop computers are not quite like the one-horse cart that Oliver Wendell Holmes memorialized in poetry; that wonderful one-hoss shay, built in such a logical way, ran 100 years to a day before all the pieces fell apart at the same time. Different components have differing life expectancies. Part of this blog is a lesson in economics; does a broken machine stay or go?
